In 2013, Joel Baziuk had a problem. He had too many fishing nets, and no good way to get rid of them. But that was about to change. As operations supervisor of聽Steveston Harbour Authority, or SHA, just south of Vancouver, British Columbia, Baziuk is responsible for Canada鈥檚 largest commercial fishing harbour.
At any given time, more than 400 vessels call the harbour home. At sea, they land a plethora of fish and shellfish 鈥� from salmon to shrimp to sea urchins 鈥� that wind up on dinner plates. All that seafood is caught with nylon nets 鈥� seine nets and gillnets that can reach hundreds of feet in length. Many such nets were slowly but surely colonising every spare inch of storage in Baziuk鈥檚 harbor because many have deteriorated to such an extent that they can no longer be used for commercial fishing.
鈥淭hese nets have just been sitting around forever,鈥� says Baziuk. They had deteriorated to such an extent that they could no longer be used for commercial fishing. However, because the traditional disposal options of burying or incinerating the nets are limited and costly, fishermen simply stored their nets instead.
As big as it is, clutter is just a small part of the fishing gear problem. In many fisheries around the world, lack of disposal options means old fishing gear finds its way back into the marine environment, where it haunts our oceans as 鈥済host gear鈥� with devastating impacts.
Some 640,000 metric tonnes (705,000 tonnes) of fishing gear are lost or discarded in the ocean every year, and each year this gear captures and kills, among other things, an estimated 136,000 seals, sea lions and whales. Since ghost gear accumulates around active fisheries, it can also pose an economic hardship to fishermen as it kills fish or other seafood they would otherwise harvest. But start-up companies capable of collecting and recycling old gear and turning it into market-ready raw materials have recently emerged to help tackle the problem.
Out of the Blue
Baziuk was determined to find a better disposal option for Steveston鈥檚 fishermen. Then, 鈥渙ut of the blue,鈥� a representative from a fishing gear recycling initiative contacted him. 鈥淭hey were looking to expand, they were looking for sources of fishing nets, they were looking for fishing harbours, and we鈥檙e the biggest one in Canada,鈥� he says. 鈥淚 thought, 鈥極kay, finally there鈥檚 maybe something we can do to help.鈥欌�� Since that initial phone call in 2013, Steveston Harbour has recycled over 40 tonnes (36 metric tonnes) of nylon fishing gear, with more on the way.
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